Spade or a hoe?

[DitchLeeper]

Found in Callaway County, MO today. My first guess was a spade or a hoe. What do you all think?

[sailorjoe]

Hard to say for sure. My first guess would be a hoe depending on what context it was found. Tools like that are sometimes found in flat river bottom lands that may have been planted in some kind of crop during Woodland times. If on that site or a nearby site you sometimes find points that can be associated with a particular period then that may offer a clue. Another possibility would be an axe.

[DitchLeeper]

Late archaic to woodland points are what i have found in the area. There are some flat creek bottoms a mile down the holler and flat praires 1/4mile up the holler.

[BabaORiley]

I agree with Joe's thought about the Woodland era and farming. The river bottoms and islands were utilized for crops and your timeline of finds supports that. Whatever its intended use it is a thick piece that looks from the flaking as it was used for heavier work such as cultivating. The shape looks conducive to a primitive hoe that could have been multipurposed as an axe/woodworker as well. Great find there...

[sailorjoe]

Hi Frank. I noticed that the bit end of one edge (the photo is #3 in the sequence of photos) that looked almost like an edge that we often see on an adz. But an adz had to be halfed differently than for a hoe ( I think). or maybe not. I gotta think about the geometry of this. So it could have been some kind of multipurpose tool depending on how it was halfted. Now I'm way past my area of expertise and relying only on my sometimes fertile imagination which according to some folks I know is fertilized by BS. LOL

[DitchLeeper]

Thanks to the both of you for the information!

[CTex]

Looks alot like the quarry blanks I find.

[Havenhunter]

Whether multi-purpose or an ag tool, that's a well used find you can be proud of.

[Tennguy]

Acheulean hand ax. Homo erectus ina.